1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of medical equipment, particularly to splints, and more particularly to a modular or sectional splint member which can be used independently or in combination for emergency treatment of skeletal injuries.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Civilian first responders, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and military field medical technicians commonly provide emergency treatment of skeletal injuries. These personnel are called upon to temporarily treat bone and joint injuries, that may range from a mild ankle sprain to a severe fracture of the femur. The aforementioned injuries would possibly be treated with a crutch and a traction providing splint, respectively.
These care givers currently select from a variety of treatment devices. These devices are generally limited to only a few applications. Therefore, care givers must have a means for the storage and transport of several different treatment devices. Care givers that use a rescue vehicle have allotted space for crutches, press boards for cardiopulmonary resuscitation, board splints, padding, back and spine boards, and traction providing devices. However, care providers that operate in remote, restricted access, or non-vehicle accessible areas don't have the ability, nor resources to carry all of these treatment devices.
Therefore, patients in remote locations may have a compromise in the quality of emergency care that is rendered. In addition, proper treatment of a severe injury may be delayed due to the absence of specialized equipment, such as a traction providing splint. This delay may cause further harm to a patient, such as the prolonged internal bleeding associated with an unstabilized femur fracture.
Inventors have created many types of splints, braces, and crutches. However, a majority of these devices are limited to a specific type of injury. Also present in the prior art, are devices having a modular or sectional characteristic that allow them to be more versatile. Several modular or sectional devices have been proposed--for example U.S. Pat. No. 590,625 to N. Paquette (1897), No. 1,326,530 to A. Radcliffe (1919), No. 1,396,372 to F. Kutwicz (1921), No. 1,635,230 to Spicer (1927), No. 1,741,011 to C. Carvill (1929), No. 2,387,192 to L. Straits (1945), No. 2,339,515 to A. Parcher (1944), No. 2,486,687 to G. Svaetichin (1949), No. 3,256,880 to E. Caypinar (1966), No. 3,624,745 to D. Bowers (1971), No. 3,719,187 to J. Ulansey (1973), No. 3,745,997 to W. Gledhill (1973), No. 4,019,504 to R. Sterling (1977), No. 4,169,467 to Rabischong et al. (1979), No. 4,383,526 to S. Robins (1983), No. 4,699,130 to P. Hossler (1987), No. 4,787,405 to D. Karwoski (1988), No. 5,101,815 to Langdon-Orr et al. (1992), No. 5,385,534 to K. Cassford (1995), and No. 5,591,121 to M. Cantrell (1997). Although capable of use with certain skeletal injuries, such devices are incapable of supporting a wide spectrum of emergency care needs. Thus, to temporarily treat a variety of skeletal injuries, care givers must have multiple treatment devices with them or treat the injuries in makeshift fashion with the available supplies.
Therefore, prior art designs for modular or sectional splints, traction providing splints, braces, and crutches heretofore known suffer from a number of disadvantages:
(a) Comfort of the patient is compromised for function. A majority of the prior art devices have no padding. Therefore injuries may be compounded by irritation at friction points. PA1 (b) Traction providing capabilities aren't available with the design of many of the prior art samples. In addition, some of the materials used in several of the preferred embodiments wouldn't be able to support the tension produced by a traction device. PA1 (c) Higher manufacturing cost are associated with the devices that have a traction applying capability. This increased production cost, resulting from the tooling needed for a winding mechanism, inflates the final product's price. PA1 (d) A more complicated manufacturing process is incurred, due to each module or section not being of a single, simple design. Therefore, a mold would need to be manufactured, maintained, and stored for each of the different components. PA1 (e) Several prior art devices are cumbersome and time consuming to use. This resulting from the use of small pieces, such as nuts and bolts, that need to be repositioned. The loss of just one piece would jeopardize the function of the device and possibly render it inoperative. PA1 (f) Many prior art devices limit their usage to one type of injury. Therefore, they don't provide care givers with ample options, for the proper care of other types of injuries. PA1 (g) Several prior art modular or sectional devices have individual parts that connect to only one or at most only a few other parts, typically in a specific order. If this order is not kept or a section is damaged, the entire device is rendered inoperative. PA1 h) Several prior art devices are of a size that only a vehicle supported care giver could use them. By lacking a compact design, the universal application of these devices is restricted. PA1 (a) to provide a splint member which is comfortable when affixed to an injured patient, as to not aggravate the existing injury nor to create any further injuries at friction points; PA1 (b) to provide a splint member whose structural integrity is sufficient to support the tension produced by a traction device; PA1 (c) to provide a splint member, in combination with other identical splint members, which can provide traction for an injured limb; PA1 (d) to provide a splint member which has a simple cost effective design; PA1 (e) to provide a splint member which is easy to assemble and use, even in low light or low visibility conditions; PA1 (f) to provide a splint member, in combination with identical splint members, which will allow for the treatment of a wide range of skeletal injuries; PA1 (g) to provide a splint member, in combination with identical splint members, which is not restricted to a single specific order of assembly; PA1 (h) to provide a splint member which is compact and lightweight.